Gold Trove Found at Israel Castle Reveals Crusaders’ Forex Moves

A hoard of gold coins. Two gold dinars, the type of gold currency found, can provide sufficiently for an extended family for one month. Photographer: Pavel Shrago/Institute of Archaeology/Tel Aviv University via Bloomberg

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Gold coins discovered last month in
an ancient crusader castle that lies in what is now Israel
provide surprising information on how economic transactions were
made about 1,000 years ago.

“The scientific value is unprecedented,” Oren Tal,
director of the excavation and chairman of Tel Aviv University’s
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures,
said in an e-mailed statement. Crusaders “were not afraid to
use older coins to complete large transactions and run large-scale businesses,” he added.

The hoard, which contains mostly dinars dating back to the
Fatimid Period that predated the crusaders, was discovered in an
excavation of the Arsur castle, also known as Apollonia.

The site was a stronghold between the ancient ports of
Jaffa and Caesarea and served as a trading center for industrial
and agricultural goods from 1241 until its destruction in 1265,
when it was attacked by Egyptian Sultan Baybars and conquered
after a 40-day siege.

The crusaders’ use of older coins minted by Egyptians in
the 10th and 11th centuries is surprising, given the importance
societies placed at the time on making their own coins for
economic, marketing and public-relations value, Tal said.

No Barriers

The discovery shows that crusaders, who in Europe used
thin, partially silver coins, chose to quickly adapt to the
currency of the Middle East, said Robert Kool, curator of coins
at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The hoard found at Apollonia is a “massive, wonderful
example that for the first time showed the use of gold by
crusaders,” said Kool, whose area of expertise is the medieval
and crusader periods. “What we see here is that when it comes
to economics there are no walls, no ideological or political
differences.”

The actual value of the coins, which bear blessings and the
names of sultans, can be extrapolated from a document found in
the Cairo Genizah collection of Jewish texts that suggests that
two gold dinars, the face value on the 108 coins found, can
provide sufficiently for an extended family for one month.

“This isn’t a piggy bank with insignificant coins, but
quite a lot of gold,” said Haim Gitler, curator of the Israel
Museum exhibition “White Gold: Revealing the World’s Earliest
Coins,” which runs through March 30, 2013.